Architecture is space.
Spaces if rearranged reconsidering the following principles, can change the way one perceives them.
The following fall under architectural principles:
i. People
ii. Plasticity
iii. Elegance and Beauty
iv. Vision
v. Sensuality
vi. Freedom
vii. Colour
viii. Light
ix. Sound
x. Material
xi. Art And Poetry
xii. Culture
xiii. Evolution
xiv. Story-telling
4. i. PEOPLE
As architects, we have to design for contemporary and future people. We need to visualize and think about what type of people will use the buildings and structures being designed today. It is truly very difficult to visualize the people that will be around in the next 30–50 years. Though they’ll probably be similar in looks, they will have very different needs. The needs of ‘ordinary people. The needs of presidents, monarchs, and occasionally dictators. The needs of sportsmen and politicians still in eighteenth-century stockings. There will not be the ‘universal people that appeared on the pages of Neufert or Metric handbook.
Architecture cannot dictate to suit their drawings. They must investigate new forms of lifestyle. New patterns of living, co-existing, working. The modern movement is the first major contribution to this.
A healthier living for people. More active spaces. Technological advancement in spaces. Every space will have its redefined or modified or evolved role. Architects should listen to the masses and their contemporary needs and correspond with them.
Buildings are often documented without people. The main design element is missing- PEOPLE. The people are the foremost reinforcement behind a structure. A structure wouldn’t have been constructed if there wasn’t any audience to consume the space within.
People must be our first priority while designing. A building cannot be studied without its consumers — THE PEOPLE.
“Yes! The human body is the most extraordinary universe.’” -F. Kieser
4. ii. PLASTICITY
Plasticity (noun): the adaptability to changes in environment or differences between habitats
Plasticity is an integral part of nature. It was here from the beginning. Plasticity of sand dunes, earth forms, and sea waves has been here for mi0 of years. Plasticity of animal bodies, Plasticity of my human body. Plasticity in nature has hundreds of reasons — economy, efficiency, materials, and structure to name a few. Whole cultures are using the sophisticated plastic form for their structures. Then came the discovery of a straight line, invented entirely by man. The straight line is defined as the shortest distance between two points. It was invented to make spaces and the commute within them easy.
Classicism is the almost logical step that followed. This preoccupation with the straight line is certainly a design limitation.
An element still in the back of our minds and only a few are using freedom of plasticity. Even fewer understand the economics, structural advantages, and beauty of freeform. Particularly the aesthetics. It’s assumed that straight spaces make them easy and as designers, we are afraid to explore the magic of plasticity. Evolution is essential.
The earth is a form that contains no straight lines and yet functions aptly. In fact, there is no other form better suited for the planet than the sphere. If nature could adapt to the principles of plasticity, where do we fall short?
Design is a field that demands courage. The courage to change the monotony. The endurance and patience for success after multiple failed results. If a space doesn’t work in its plastic form, the form is mistaken not it’s plasticity. Exploration of possibilities is the key to the optimal space discovery.
‘Today we enjoy total plastic freedom.’ -O. Niemeyer
4. iii. ELEGANCE and BEAUTY
Elegance
Elegance is also never spoken about. It is a critical element of good design or
architecture. Yet it’s more obvious on a pair of shoes or a beautiful dress. Maybe less obvious on something like a chair, elegant car, or elegant bridge. Elegance is essential. Elegant building? Even more difficult. But it must be there. As always with these things, many people never think about it. Never achieve it. In many cases, they never even try. Sometimes it comes to projects almost naturally. Sometimes via people who did not go to art or architectural school. Here we can see many striking examples. In nature there are hundreds.
What is elegance?
It is probably o combination of shape, colour, beauty, gentleness, expression and function. An elegant thing of the past is almost certainly elegant now. Let’s create things that will remain elegant in the future. Many certainly will.Let’s look at a building as a piece of art. An art installation that defines your city. Let elegance be the way you define your city. Let the visitors visit your city for a vacation and return to their hometown to define the city as an elegant one because of that building.
Beauty.
Two beauties, 25,000 years apart. One human sculpture - One human being. We have same feelings about them. Both are astonishingly beautiful both have a simple, almost abstract form. It is magic to see both forms. We can be almost romantic about this. We can be sentimental. Beauty created by man and beauty created by nature. The endless beauty of the human body. The modern body, and even body from several centuries back. The beauty of a moving body. The beautiful intimacy of a body - the first intimate touch. You can feel skin and you can smell it. There no harm in being sentimental about it. Then there is the beautiful form of an African mask. The beauty of colours and power of Rothko painting. Sculpture and its form. The totally abstract form of a Brancusi head. Totally complimentary to nature’s creativity. Let’s create beauty inspiration here. Let’s use beauty without any reason. Beauty mustn’t demand explanations.“Beauty can be endless. Beauty is absolute.” -A. Raymond
“Reason is the enemy of imagination.” -M. Heidegger
4. iv. VISION
It is not such a long time ago that we could see only the surface of things around us. We had to memorize. Then came Photography. Suddenly there was a record available, though only a black and white record. Then came color. Then x-ray photography. We could see inside things, how they are constructed. How they operate. How they function. Reality came closer to us. We can now see much deeper. We can see forms we never thought of. Soon we have all this in 3-D. We may even be able to smell it, I am sure many architects do not see this amazing development. They are not interested. They are totally immune to new horizons. They mostly ignore these changes. Extraordinary new forms are emerging. Completely new structures. How can we use all this to our advantage, for a truly new world? Some architects will do so, but unfortunately very few.
One must be a visionary as a designer to foresee what the future holds.
As Oren Harari rightly said- ‘The Bulb wasn’t invented trying to improve the candle’, to bring about a revolutionizing invention of space we cannot keep improvising the old. We must adopt a new paradigm of thoughts that’ll hold the vision for the future.
“Eyes that cannot see.” -Le Corbusier
4. v. SENSUALITY
What is the magic final touch in any sign? Something that is difficult to describe in words. It is more of a feeling, almost a smell. Who are the people who have managed to add this dimension to design? People have tried for generations. Sometimes it is gentle, recently more explicit. Eileen Grey’s bedroom certainly has this feeling. Carlo Molino was openly interested. Niemeyer is drawing young ladies next his creations — his building forms speak for themselves. Le Corbusier is naturally interested, as is evident in his drawings. Did his architecture truly change to become curvier just because he met a certain young lady? We shall never know. Sexuality is accepted in all other art forms — painting, sculpture, photography, film and especially fashion why in architecture is it such a taboo subject? Why is it thought of as wrong? I think quite the opposite is true. There is not enough of it. Look at the thousands of buildings that have been conceived by people who never been physically close.
The sensuality of the tropical plant, light, skin, perfume, classical music, jazz, art, and much more. We are sometimes not aware of this richness around us. How to integrate all this into design should be critical. HOW to enrich interior and exterior. How to use natural or artificial light. HOW art should be totally incorporated within the space, not just added as a decoration. How smell can be something wonderful. How we can touch those soft, hard and perfumed walls. HOW we can experience completely new tastes in that space. How our skin can react. How we can kiss in this space. How we can make love. These form just the beginning of the design process. It could be almost magic. It could be that sensuality is the not yet explored fifth dimension. How people move through the space. How people move around the building. It is possible to introduce many of these sensual pleasures. How to make more people happy. Even more happy. This is just the start of the fifth-dimension sensuality.
‘We reduce art to its simplest expression which is love.’ — A. Breton
4. vi. FREEDOM
Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Freedom of form. Freedom of decision. Freedom of information. All this was denied me for many years. Altogether for 26 years. Almost half of my life. This is why I will always treasure these freedoms. The fascists or communists tried to destroy everything.
Growth occurs the best without restrictions.
The Iron Curtain went down — no books, no passports, jamming of radio, more prisons, no education, no to just everything, something new was banned every day. When I now see groups of students traveling freely through Europe I envy them. I almost cry. I hope they treasure every moment.
When I see people not interested in books, magazines, information, I despair. For me it was a desperate battle to see and know more. I despair when I see young architects not even bother to open a book or magazine — a privilege I never had. I had to learn everything myself.
Spaces should remind us of the existence of infinity. A plethora of possibilities. Endless interpretations of space — by the senses of a user.
Architecture can never prosper in dictatorship of any form. Freedom of expression must be at the beginning of any design process. You can build only in a democracy. You can create only in freedom.
‘Democracy builds.’ F. L. Wright
4. vii. Color
Even historically color is one of the critical elements of any design. It is a major element in nature, where even gold, silver and fluorescent exist. It is only architects who have a problem with colour. They think black-and-white, then some of them add color. Thousands of grey creations — inside and outside. Are these architects color-blind? On the other hand, it is astonishing how color comes naturally to many cultures. Bright, sophisticated, unusual colors — almost fluorescent. Architecture here has to learn also from art. It must learn from plants and animals. How refreshing it is to look at the work Of Le Corbusier, Luis Barragan, Oscar Niemeyer, Richard Rogers, and others.
Colour is architecture.
-t is not added afterward. Greek villagers paint their doors beautiful bright colors, and outstanding architecture can be seen here. There are new colors of plastic materials. Is this lack of color development from the nineteenth century? Can we change all this? We muse.
We need a more colorful future. Let architecture paint it.
‘Without black no color has any depth.’ -Amy Grant
4. viii. LIGHT
In the small town of Ibaraki, 25km outside of Osaka, Japan, stands one of Tadao Ando’s signature architectural works, the Church of the Light. The Church of the Light embraces Ando’s philosophical framework between nature and architecture through the way in which light can define and create new spatial perceptions equally, if not more so, as that of his concrete structures. Completed in 1989, the Church of the Light was a renovation to an existing Christian compound in Ibaraki. The new church was the first phase to a complete redesign of the site — later completed in 1999 — under Ando’s design aesthetic. The coexisting differences leave the church void of any, and all, ornament creating a pure, unadorned space. The intersection of light and solid raises the occupants’ awareness of the spiritual and secular within themselves.
Light matters.
It may not just be natural light. It may be the one created artificially. Does shadow have the power to give form to architecture? The increasing number of transparent buildings and LED installations would enforce the impression that light has eliminated the relevance of shadow.
Although the Louvre pyramid, often recognized as his masterwork, created a luminous icon for presenting culture, IM Pei’s early museums were characterized by the harsh shadows of brutalism. Project by project, the Chinese-American master developed a sophisticated, open architectural language. Pei’s holistic approach for welcoming museum visitors comprises powerful symbols which utilize sunlight to its fullest during the daytime while employing the magical glow of illumination in the evening.
‘Architecture is the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of masses brought together in light.’ -Le Corbusier
4. ix. SOUND
We are surrounded by sounds everywhere. Every place has a ring to it.
The sound may be invisible or unconsciously perceived but that doesn’t make it any less an architectural material than wood, glass, concrete, stone or steel.
It is shaped by design. Every space has its own sonic profile. This sound decides the psychological impact it has on the users of that particular space.
Sound embraces and transcends the spaces in which it occurs opening up a consummate context for the listener. The acoustic source and its surroundings unite into a unique auditory experience.
The act of designing can be understood as an architectural process that not only works in the field of acoustics but also transcends it in order to go deep into perceptual, intellectual, narrative, emotional, referential, and aesthetic dimensions. Any sound designer is creating spaces with certain features and qualities, in particular notions and realities.
Therefore, it is essential to design a space considering the sonic profile it is going to create since one can’t merely consume a space without having felt it. And one cannot feel a space without having heard the ring of the space.
The way space resonates decides how space makes you feel.
If the sound factor is not considered, quite a few times sounds with negative impacts get involuntarily created, which are capable of spoiling the entire user experience and thus reducing the usability of the space.
“To hear a sound is to see a space.” –Louis Kahn
4. x. MATERIALS
The non-materialist aspect of the built environment is known as Architecture. Every element has two qualities, one is materialistic and another is non-materialist. While calculatedly chosen for architectural project it has to be considered both the properties of the materials. Non-measurable and measurable values have equal importance while choosing perfect building materials. The quality and quantity make a major impact during the selection of appropriate building material. Along with structural importance &constructional behavior, visual impact with the historical value of particular materials gives an essence of the built environment. Site selection along with site surrounding also suggest the building types as well as help to choosing particular materials.
Symbolic Thoughts and philosophical value of materials make the ordinary place to a sacred place through architectural elements.
We have been using the same materials overages and studying ways of using them. The focus needs to be shifted to inventing or creating new materials. Materiality isn’t made a priority in architecture. Spaces- their structure and planning and circulation do. Materials decide the final output of a structure. Building materials have been an integral part of the architectural field. The kind and form of a structure are symbolized by the type of material used. The type of material selected deduces a form to the structure. It often induces the concept or theme of the design of the structure and hence the concept of building materials glorifies the importance of endurance and visual quality terms of design. Henceforth it can be symbolized as a keen requirement of architectural aspects representing its core theme and concept in the architectural building industry. Thus it gives a meaning and aesthetic nature along with being an element of beauty and structure.
“Architecture is the only practice that uses materials but isn’t materialistic.”
4. xi. ART & POETRY
The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as a painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power is art. While every form of art need not be architecture, every form of architecture ought to be an art. Architecture is the epitome of installation art with an assemblage of constituent elements which create the spatial narratives. Moreover in architectural installations perceiver is always an integral aspect of space and therefore cannot escape the emotions and interactivity of the space.
Architecture is a process of communication where the designer encodes the messages and the perceiver decodes the same. Communication succeeds when intentions match the experience. Of course, architecture must be poetic. All of it — inside and outside. The gentler and poetic, the better it is. Small buildings, large buildings. Urban environment. Every building, especially inside, has many, many elements that can be poetic. In real poetry, there are only words to be used. In architecture, there is the whole building and the whole environment. Materials, color, texture, light, or shadow. We hardly use greenery as a poetic element. Its users should be gentle and poetic beings, not just the football crowd. Powerful prose can be poetry. Let’s use this formula more often in architecture. Great architecture always was and always will be poetry. This is another dimension one should think about every day. Lots of architects do not do so at all. This is so much a neglected factor. Even the best examples of engineering are poetic. Above all, the flower and the blue sky are certainly poetic. Good architecture is always poetic.
Art in architecture, in addition to the visual, have a spatial and notional role to play as well. Spatial role refers to modulation of scale, proportioning, nature of movement as well as a perceived sense of belonging and boundaries.
“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comforted.” –Caesar A. Cruz
4. xii. CULTURE
Architecture is a manifestation and expression of culture. As such it must acknowledge and respond to the cultural needs and values of the society with which it interacts. Consequently, a selected set of cultural aspects will be defined which have been found most likely to influence architectural.
The very essence of every built form or built-up environment is the manifestation of culture masked behind its layers of abstraction. The manifestation may be royal and imposing like those of the mighty empires, or maybe simple and yet powerful to create an identity for those who adhere to it. Elaborating the expression of culture on the built form is usually the unconscious effort of every designer. In fact, culture plays a dominant role at the very outset of any design process. This because, any design when conceptualized to perform a desired function, is directly or indirectly derived from or synchronized with the cultural identity of the user. It is what frames our thought processes. It defines the identity of the user. It is what frames our thought processes.
However, architecture must play an important role in realizing the differences between culture and superstition or myth and design spaces with an attempt of abolishing the unwanted practices. Over the years cultural influences have molded the way spaces have been designed. Not only in areas of ritualistic and religious importance such as temples and mosques, but also the design of residences has been a direct result of the cultural practices prevalent during the time of its construction. The cultural beliefs of a town of a city are the foundation of the architecture of that place and also the bonds of the space.
The quality of social interaction with space can be optimized by pertaining to culture and abolishing the superstitious malpractices involved with the same.
“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts & soul of its people.” –M. K. Gandhi
4. xiii. EVOLUTION
Evolution is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into a different, usually more complex or better form. Biologically, its defined as the process by which an organism becomes more sophisticated over time and in response to its environment and achieves greater adaptability.
Similar is the case of architecture, and it’ll be a truism to state that architecture evolves with time. It has also been noticed that there is some vague analogy between the concept of styles and that of species in biological systems. Both are seen as unique groups of characteristics that are distributed throughout a particular ecological or cultural environment and both of which in simple terms originate or become extinct at certain historical points in time.
In other words, they have a definite lifespan after which they cease to exist or ‘become something else’ by being transformed into another species or style. In both cases, we have the idea of a lineage and even the concept of continual transformation. This is coupled with an understanding that change occurs in both these systems as a product of adaptation to their respective environments. In architecture, the environment is seen as a function of demographic, institutional, technological, or economic change.
This theory deals with a large scale transformation in architecture over long periods of time and the collective mechanisms involved in such changes. Evolution in Architecture, however, has its own anthropocentric theories about individuals passing the “cultural torch” to other individuals. Architecture simply doesn’t have the theoretical tools to handle or explain the collective dimension of its own history; the dimension of organization and cumulative selection which produces large scale stylistic change.
“To provide meaningful architecture is not parody history, but to articulate it.” -Daniel Libeskind
4. xiv. STORY-TELLING
“Form follows function” had become modernity’s ambitious manifesto and detrimental straitjacket, as it liberated architecture from the decorative, but condemned it to utilitarian rigor and restrained purpose. But if form follows fiction, we could think of architecture and buildings as a space of stories — stories of the people that live there, of the people that work in these buildings. And the experiences buildings create.
Visiting a historical monument and having the read history we can feel how it was lived. The royal lifestyle in palaces and forts, the interiors well ornamented with gold, and the grand structural elements script the stories of the kingdoms that flourished there.
The ruins of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa tell so much about the first civilization that ever occurred. Their lifestyle, way of trade, occupation, building materials.
We should start designing the building by imagining the experience it’s going to create for the users. The story it’s going to write. And to ensure it’s a good one, space must correspond to not only the functions but also the imaginations made by the probable user.
Hence, architecture must exceed the domains of physical matter of built environment, and must really be about how we want to live our lives, how we script our own stories and those of others.
“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” -Hannah Arendt
“Architecture is a violation of landscape; it cannot simply be integrated, It must create a new equilibrium.”
-Mario Botta
